Brazilian Portrait: Villa-lobos And The Guiitar Music Of Brazilâ 

Description

BRAZILIAN PORTRAITVilla-Lobos & The Guitar Music of BrazilAll of the music on this recording was written for the guitar orinspired by its magical sound. In Brazil, the guitar is the solo instrument parexcellence and has been used in classical as well as popular music. It is atraditional instrument of the chor?Áes who were originally working class, mainlyamateur musicians. They formed groups very much like the jazz bands in NewOrleans and transformed the popular European music of the late nineteenth centuryinto something more vital and syncopated, reminiscent of the rhythms of theAfrican slaves (slavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888). Foremost among theearly chor?Áes was Jo?úo Pernambuco (1883- 1947), an untrained musician whoearned his living as an iron-worker, but supplemented his income by playing inclubs and bars with his group Cax?ónga. It was on these occasions that he metHeitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), a towering figure in the history of Brazilianmusic, who gained his musical training as a chor?úo in the streets of Rio deJaneiro as much as in the Conservatoire in Paris. Villa-Lobos was responsiblefor notating many of Pernambuco's improvisations, and indeed was influenced bythem, as evidenced by the similarity of the opening of Sonha de Magia (Dreamsof magic) to that of Prelude No.5. The Ch??ro, P?? de Mico (translated roughly asItching Powder) must surely have affected the Ch??ros of Villa-Lobos, classicalversions of the popular form, for many and varied instrumental combinations.The Preludes written in 1940 and dedicated to his wife, Mindinha, are on theother hand, purely classical in form and were given titles by her. These are: 1. Lyrical melody. Homage to the Brazilian country dweller. 2. Melody from Capadocia. Homage to the Rascal of Rio. 3. Homage to Bach. 4. Homage to the Brazilian Indians. 5. Homage to social life, to the boys and girls who go to concerts atthe theatre in Rio. Villa-Lobos was also outstanding as an educator and it was in hiscapacity as Director of music education for Brazil that he met the UruguayanIsaias Savio (1902-1977) who was active as a concert guitarist and teacher inthe country villages of Brazil at the time. Sonha laia (Dream of laia, a god ofthe Macumba), Ser?Áes (a Modinha, slow and melancholy) and Batucada (a livelydance of African origin) are all taken from his series, Scenas Brasileiras -Brazilian Scenes, which were the inspiration for my own arrangements of theBrazilian children's songs Como Pode O Peixe (How can you live like the fish?),Nesta Rua (In our street) and Samba L?¬le (Samba Lele). They are dedicated toErnesto Nazareth, Villa-Lobos and Savio, all avid collectors of folk music. Itwas in the back streets of Rio that Savio met and taught a young guitarist whowas playing a new type of music which was a fusion of American jazz and theBrazilian Samba. The guitarist was Luis Bonfa (b. 1922) and the musical stylewas called Bossa Nova - New Beat. Bonfa's subtle harmonic language anddistinctive syn